Summing a Column By Group In a Dataset With Macros - sas

Question

I have a dataset that looks like:
Month Cost_Center Account Actual Annual_Budget
June 53410 Postage 13 234
June 53420 Postage 0 432
June 53430 Postage 48 643
June 53440 Postage 0 917
June 53710 Postage 92 662
June 53410 Phone 73 267
June 53420 Phone 103 669
June 53430 Phone 90 763
...
I would like to first sum the Actual and Annual columns, respectively and then create a variable where it flags if the Actual extrapolated for the entire year is greater than than Annual column.
I have the following code:
Data Test;
set Combined;
%All_CC; /*MACRO TO INCLUDE ALL COST CENTERS*/
%Total_Other_Expenses;/*MACRO TO INCLUDE SPECIFIC Account Descriptions*/
Sum_Actual = sum(Actual);
Sum_Annual = sum(Annual_Budget);
Run_Rate = Sum_Actual*12;
if Run_Rate > Sum_Annual then Over_Budget_Alarm = 1;
run;
However, when I run this code, it does not sum by group, for example, this is the output I get:
Account_Description Sum_Actual Sum_Annual Run_Rate Over_Budget_Alarm
Postage 13 234 146
Postage 0 432 0
Postage 48 643 963 1
Postage 0 917 0
Postage 92 662 634 1
I'm looking for output where all the 'postage' are summed for Actual and Annual, leaving just one row of data.

Answer 1

Use PROC MEANS to summarize the data
Use a data step and IF/THEN statement to create your flags.
proc means data=have N SUM NWAY STACKODS;
class account;
var amount annual_budget;
ods output summary = summary_stats1;
output out = summary_stats2 N = SUM= / AUTONAME;
run;
data want;
set summary_stats;
if sum_actual > sum_annual_budget then flag=1;
else flag=0;
run;

Answer 2

SAS DATA step behavior is quite complex ("About DATA Step Execution" in SAS Language Reference: Concepts). The default behavior, that you're seeing, is: at the end of each iteration (i.e. for each input row) the row is written to the output data set, and the PDV - all data step variables - is reset.
You can't expect to write Base SAS "intuitively" without spending a few days learning it first, so I recommend using PROC SQL, unless you have a reason not to.
If you really want to aggregate in data step, you have to use something called BY groups processing: after ensuring the input data set is sorted by the BY vars, you can use something like the following:
data Test (keep = Month Account Sum_Actual Sum_Annual /*...your Run_Rate and Over_Budget_Alarm...*/);
set Combined; /* the input table */
by Month Account; /* must be sorted by these */
retain Sum_Actual Sum_Annual; /* don't clobber for each input row */
if first.account then do; /* instead do it manually for each group */
Sum_Actual = 0;
Sum_Annual = 0;
end;
/* accumulate the values from each row */
Sum_Actual = sum(Sum_Actual, Actual);
Sum_Annual = sum(Sum_Annual, Annual_Budget);
/* Note that Sum_Actual = Sum_Actual+Actual; will not work if any of the input values is 'missing'. */
if last.account then do;
/* The group has been processed.
Do any additional processing for the group as a whole, e.g.
calculate Over_Budget_Alarm. */
output; /* write one output row per group */
end;
run;

Answer 3

Proc SQL can be very effective for understanding aggregate data examination. With out seeing what the macros do, I would say perform the run rate checks after outputting data set test.
You don't show rows for other months, but I must presume the annual_budget values are constant across all months -- if so, I don't see a reason to ever sum annual_budget; comparing anything to sum(annual_budget) is probably at the incorrect time scale and not useful.
From the show data its hard to tell if you want to know any of these
which (or if some) months had a run_rate that exceeded the annual_budget
which (or if some) months run_rate exceeded the balance of annual_budget (i.e. the annual_budget less the prior months expenditure)
Presume each row in test is for a single year/month/costCenter/account -- if not the underlying data would have to be aggregated to that level.
Proc SQL;
* retrieve presumed constant annual_budget values from data;
* this information might (should) already exist in another table;
* presume constant annual budget value at each cost center | account combination;
* distinct because there are multiple months with the same info;
create table annual_budgets as
select distinct Cost_Center, Account, Annual_Budget
from test;
create table account_budgets as
select account, sum(annual_budget) as annual_budget
from annual_budgets
group by account;
* flag for some run rate condition;
create table annual_budget_mon_runrate_check as
select
2019 as year,
account,
sum(actual) as yr_actual, /* across all month/cost center */
min (
select annual_budget from account_budgets as inner
where inner.account = outer.account
) as account_budget,
max (
case when actual * 12 > annual_budget then 1 else 0 end
) as
excessive_runrate_flag label="At least one month had a cost center run rate that would exceed its annual_budget")
from
test as outer
group by
year, account;
You can add a where clause to restrict the accounts processed.
Changing the max to sum in the flag computation would return the number of cost center months with excessive run rates.